About group chat

The group chat feature lets you talk with many friends at once. You can chat with up to 100 people in a group discussion. Any participant can invite others to join.

Start a group chat

Start a chat with a single person in your Chat list.

Once you've started the chat, at the top of the chat window, click the add person icon .

In the field labeled "Add people to this chat," enter the names of the contacts you want to add to your group chat.

To end your chat, click X at the corner of the chat window. Others in the group chat will get a message saying that you've left the conversation. If you want to rejoin, you'll need to be invited back by someone who's still in the group chat. The group chat will continue until all participants have left.

Gmail Users

If you're using Gmail and want to start a group chat with a group of contacts you're currently communicating with on an email thread, go to the right side of your Gmail page, next to "People," and click the chat icon . This will start a Chat lobby where you can see who's available for your group chat. At that time, you can choose whether to add or remove participants. The group chat won't actually start until you type and send your message.

Group chat doesn't work with the older version of Gmail. Upgrade your browser to take advantage of these new features.